Dear _________________________
The media has paid much attention to Mr. Jim Johnson who was associated with the Obama campaign until today. It was just reported that Mr. Johnson, although filling an unpaid position, resigned today due to the media singing to the GOP Opposition song sheet like a choir to accusations publicizing Johnson’s “links” to Countrywide. Reporters have been consistently stating that since Obama promised a new brand of politics, Johnson’s presence in any area of his campaign "ran counter to Obama’s message". Fine. Johnson is now out.
HOWEVER, what I find missing from media reporting are any mention of McCain’s “Maverick” label and the conflict with it that former Sen. Phil Gramm, his chief economic advisor, poses to that label. Reaching back to an ultimate Washington/Lobbyist insiders who has played many roles in the Subprime mess as one of its main architect is not what a true Maverick ought to be doing.
Please note the following information that I am providing to allow you to see the fact that Phil Gramm and his role in the McCain campaign is a much bigger issue than Jim Johnson ever was to the Obama campaign.
Since you are a part of the media, I’m trying to figure out if and when you will be comparing and contrasting the fact that Jim Johnson is "out", and Phil Gramm is "in" still advising John McCain.
I’m holding your feet to the fire. I want to witness just how “objective” the media truly is versus how balanced it claims to be. Please feel free to use the below sites in doing your research.
Thank you...and
Respectfully,
XXXXXXXXXXXX
McCain's econ brainEconomic conservatives take heart: Phil Gramm is influencing the candidate's platform.
McCain's chief economic adviser - and perhaps his closest political friend - is the ultimate pure play in free market faith, former Texas Senator Phil Gramm.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/18/news/newsmakers/tully_gramm.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008021917McCain economic policy shaped by lobbyistSwiss bank paid McCain co-chair to push agenda on U.S. mortgage crisis
When Gramm chaired the Senate Banking Committee, he wrote and passed deregulatory legislation in more than one industry, establishing himself as a pre-eminent foe of government regulation. McCain’s March 26 speech recommended further deregulation of the banking industry as his response to the mortgage crisis.
After Gramm passed a law easing regulation of energy-commodity trading, California experienced a sharp run-up in energy costs. The energy-trading company Enron was blamed and soon collapsed.
In 1999, Gramm successfully undid the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, removing the decades-old wall between commercial banking, which was heavily regulated, and investment banking, which was not. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act did not extend significant new regulation to investment banking.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24844889 Economic Slump Underlines Concerns About McCain AdvisersOne of them helped deregulate the financial services industries in the 1990s, and now sits in the corporate suites of Swiss banking giant UBS, which yesterday announced $19 billion in investment losses tied to the crumbling U.S. real estate market.
1. The other pushed one of the most aggressive and controversial mergers of the technology boom, then was sacked by the disenchanted board of Hewlett-Packard.
Former senator Phil Gramm, with his aw-shucks Texas drawl, may at first blush have little in common with Carly Fiorina, the telegenic former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. But they share a bond: Both are leading economic advisers of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee for president, and both have reputations as the kind of aggressive capitalists that may be sliding from favor as the nation's economy edges toward recession.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/01/AR2008040102860_pf.htmlThe Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 or CFMA (Public Law 106–554, §1(a)(5) , December 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–365, 7 U.S.C. § 1), was passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in December 2000 in large part to allow for the creation of U.S. exchanges for the listing of a new sort of derivative security, the single-stock future.
The "Enron Loophole"The CFMA has received criticism for the so-called "Enron Loophole," 7 U.S.C. §2(h)(3) and (g), which exempts most over-the-counter energy trades and trading on electronic energy commodity markets.
The "loophole" was drafted by Enron Lobbyists working with senator Phil Gramm seeking a deregulated atmosphere for their new experiment, "Enron On-line".
The prohibition on single-stock futures and narrow-based indices that had been in effect until the passage of this act was known as the Shad-Johnson Accord because it was first announced in 1982, as part of a jurisdictional pact between John S.R. Shad, then chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Phil Johnson, then chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000Michael Greenberger, former Director of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), was interviewed by NPR’s Terry Gross this past Thursday, April 3. He explained that the sub-prime mortgage crisis was caused by financial derivatives, and that there are more crises coming, because there are many more financial derivatives out there. He notes that the one act of deregulation most to blame – even more to blame than the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act (the law passed in the First Great Depression to separate commercial banking from investment banking) is
the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000, introduced on the sly by then Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), who is now the top economic advisor to John McCain:
http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/node/1256 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
